banner archive / workshop

banner archive: 80 banners (dimensions variable), phone, sensor and sound installation (software: Processing, Hardware: Arduino), archive cards, computer. Banners were on loan from the collection of the International Institute of Social History and private collections.

A department of an institution (International Institute of Social History) was moved to an art educational institution (Gerrit Rietveld Academy). With this act, a hyperreal space has been created which can be observed by a visitor as an integral part of the Academy. The project attempts to scrutinize the archive as a general system that governs the formation and transformation of statements and sentences,; or as laws governing what can be said in a given period or situation.

The archive was presented as a knowledge generator (not stored knowledge) and reveals fragments of imperceptible stories that have become marginalized within the official narrative of (art) history. At the same time, it is showing the banner as an interpassive medium. The project is representing the representation.

Upon entering the space, the phone was ringing. If a visitor picked up the phone, she / he could hear one of the personal stories of a person who was involved in one of the actions or protests in which the banners presented in the archive were used. On the table next to the phone there was an archive box with data from all the banners present in the archive.

The workshop space functions as a schism between real and ideal (heterotopic) space, and exposes rather symbolic ‘interactions.’ The project is in constant flux and depends on the participation of its visitors. By setting up the room, I created a space for a situation to develop (through confrontation and participation), revealing interactivity as an illusion while still seeking new tactics and methods for participation.

In the workshop area, all the necessary banner-making materials and techniques were available. Various groups and individuals used this opportunity to create a new banner.